Text of report by Azerbaijani news agency Trend on 13th December
Baku, Trend correspondent F. Arifoglu: "The preliminary information that is
coming from all regions of the country allows us to assert that the
municipal elections were held in undemocratic conditions in general in
Azerbaijan," a member of the presidium of the PFAP [People's Front of
Azerbaijan Party] supreme majlis, deputy head of the party's electoral
headquarters Hasan Kerimov said.
He said that observers from the PFAP had not been allowed to monitor the
elections in many polling stations. "Observers were allowed to the polling
stations only after the interference of higher electoral commissions," he
said. Among typical violations he named cases when one elector voted for
several people, the cutting off of electricity, the artificial making of a
quorum by adding ballot papers and the falsification of protocols.
According to Kerimov, mass falsification of the election results is going on
now. "For example, according to preliminary reports, the PFAP won the
elections in Mukhakh village, the biggest one in Zagatala District.
However, the territorial electoral commission annulled the results."
He said that the biggest turnout had been in the Nakhichevan Autonomous
Republic. For example, 46 out of 49 candidates for the PFAP were elected in
all 16 municipalities in Sharur District.
Secretary of the Musavat Party and head of the party's electoral
headquarters Arif Hajiyev also spoke about mass violations during the
municipal elections. "This time the authorities have invented a new sort of
violation. Many polling stations were closed down after the voting
procedure. This is a flagrant violation of the law," Hajiyev said.
However, despite the violations, hundreds of Musavat Party candidates were
elected to the municipalities, according to preliminary reports. Musavat
Party members even won the majority of seats in approximately 30
municipalities, but in small ones.
Source: Trend news agency, Baku, in Russian 1225 gmt 13 Dec 99
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